


Distraction

by venndaai



Category: Imperial Radch Series - Ann Leckie
Genre: Bond Girl Seivarden, Other, Unresolved Sexual Tension
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-14
Updated: 2020-04-14
Packaged: 2021-02-23 13:10:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,245
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23645260
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/venndaai/pseuds/venndaai
Summary: A counters game, a coat, a theft, and Seivarden being very distracting.
Relationships: Justice of Toren One Esk Nineteen | Breq/Seivarden Vendaai
Comments: 8
Kudos: 42
Collections: Republic of Two Systems Independence Day Exchange 2020





	Distraction

**Author's Note:**

  * For [gardenvarietyunique](https://archiveofourown.org/users/gardenvarietyunique/gifts).



> For the prompt "Team Heist or 007 AU starring Breq, Breq from the Gerentate, and glam Bond girl Seivarden". This is very silly, I hope you enjoy it. <3 There's a vague longer story behind this snippet, but you can probably imagine a better one tbh.

The tea shop was in a fashionable area of Imrei Station, and from the prices on the menu it was very upscale, but it was quiet, too- a discreet establishment. The station administrator was clearly a known patron; we were shown to a luxurious back room, with a polished table and a real wood counters board already set. 

“It’s rare to meet a foreigner familiar with our games,” the captain of _Sword of Tyr_ said.

“I’m well traveled,” I said with a smile. The captain smirked back, pleased with herself for what she imagined was a sly dig at a Special Missions operative’s flimsy cover story. 

“And what is the name of your delightful companion?” the station administrator asked. 

“Seikalr Indar,” Seivarden said, smiling at the administrator. “A pleasure to make your acquaintance.” I watched the administrator and the captain take Seivarden in. With her glittering jewelry, aristocratic features, ostentatious accent and unfamiliar house name, she was my accessory, someone aesthetically pleasing and cultured to smooth over any social difficulties in return for unofficial patronage. 

I had been concerned that Seivarden might find playing such a role too difficult for her not insignificant pride. To my surprise, however, she seemed remarkably at ease with it. 

“Just like old times, huh?” Seivarden had said with a snort, when I’d proposed the plan to her. 

“I’m not sure what you mean,” I had said. 

“Back at Omaugh,” Seivarden had said. “I was your distraction, right? I figured that much out, eventually.” She’d grinned. “But I bet I could have done a better job of it, if I’d known what I was doing.” 

She was certainly doing an excellent job now. I watched her lean forward to better hear the administrator’s murmured compliment, allowing her unbuttoned shirt to fall further open. I could perfectly recall the kind of disparaging comment Seivarden would once have made about a citizen acting in such a manner, but she seemed perfectly shameless and confident now.

“Eyes on the game, Captain,” _Mercy of Kalr_ said in my ear.

I could no longer calculate all possible outcomes of a counters game the way I once was able to when I was my full self, but a thousand years of practice still left me a very proficient player. I lost the first two rounds, not ostentatiously but clumsily enough to put the captain at ease. Seivarden rolled her heavily decorated eyes at my ineptitude. “You were a much better player when we met,” she said, with a flicker of a wink. 

“Perhaps you should play for your friend!” Administrator Amarind said, laughing. 

“Oh, if only her pride would allow it,” Seivarden said, looking at me sidelong.

Even with Station on our side, there was a chance our marks would observe me if I communicated with _Mercy of Kalr_ through hand gestures- and a very high chance that  _ Sword of Tyr _ would take note through its captain’s eyes. Fortunately for us, I had no need of hand gestures. I leaned back on my cushion and requested data from Tisarwat.

“I can’t find it, sir,” Tisarwat whispered, from the captain’s station quarters. “I think she must keep it on her.” 

I raised my eyes to Seivarden’s, and let myself smile slightly. I spread my hands. “If you think you can do better,” I said. 

“Amaat will decide, of course,” she said, piously, “but I can hardly do worse.” The station administrator burst into loud laughter. I could see Seivarden’s heart rate spiking, but she was showing no outward signs of anxiety. Smoothly, she slid around the table- and into my lap. 

Somehow, I hadn’t predicted this. I was very aware, suddenly, of how tightly tailored her fashionably cut trousers were. 

“The honored Breq took first move last round,” Seivarden said. “I believe that makes this round your turn.” She was bony, and not terribly graceful; it should not have been possible for her to fit so comfortably into my crossed legs, and yet she seemed to have managed it. 

I watched through Seivarden’s eyes as the captain placed her counters, and gestured for Seivarden to place hers. Seivarden rolled her glass counters around in her gloved hand, slowly, and then said, “Ah- shall we make this more interesting? Let’s add to the wager.”

“What are you thinking of offering?” the administrator asked, curious.

“A bottle of the honored Breq’s excellent arrack,” she said, and grinned. “And I’ll deliver it personally.”

Station sent me information on how the captain’s vitals responded to that. “I’m not sure I have anything of equal value to wager,” she said.

“That coat of yours, Captain. It’s stunning. I’d rather like it for myself.” 

Captain Amaalis blinked, clearly somewhat taken aback, but then she smiled. “I would be honored to gift it to you,” she said, but made no move to remove the coat. Seivarden’s gamble would do us no good if Amaalis had the coat sent over later today. Seivarden leaned forward, her whole body shifting. 

“Focus, Captain,” _Mercy of Kalr_ told me, tone not betraying any of the amusement I suspected was there. 

Through Seivarden’s eyes I watched her run a gloved finger down the iridescent breast of the coat. “I’m eager to try it on,” she said, and with her other hand she placed her counters. 

It had been two years since Seivarden had last played counters. And a thousand and nine since she had last played a human opponent. Or, for that matter, since she had won. 

It was therefore a shame that I was distracted from what I am sure was a very well played strategy. 

“Well,” Amaalis said, as she finished counting up the score. “Very well played. I feel no shame at being defeated by such an opponent. Amaat must have intended this coat for you. I’m sure you’ll look lovely in it.” 

“Oh, I know I will,” Seivarden said, making both our marks laugh. She stood up and came around the table, and put her hands on the captain’s shoulders. The captain smiled, and allowed Seivarden to slide the coat off of her back, and watched with a frankly appraising eye as Seivarden shrugged into it herself. 

It did suit her. By common Radchaai standards of our current time, anyway. 

“Honored Breq is very fortunate,” the captain said. “To have the… friendship of such an excellent counters player.”

“I am,” I said, and smiled. “Unfortunately, we have another engagement. Amaat willing, we’ll see you both again soon.” 

“Amaat willing,” the station administrator echoed. 

Once we were a few steps out of the teashop I saw Seivarden’s hands dip into the pockets of the jacket. “Aaatr’s tits,” she whispered subvocally, _Mercy of Kalr_ transmitting the words to me. “It’s in here! The twit forgot it!” Seivarden’s hand closed hard around my arm. “Get me somewhere private,” she muttered. Station pulled up a map for me, and I led us into a small and neglected-looking temple, and into a dark alcove, where Seivarden broke down laughing so hard she had to put her hands on her knees and gasp for breath. 

“That,” she said, “was ridiculous.”

“You did a very good job,” I said. “I’m impressed.” 

She looked at me, and as the laughter faded, it was replaced by a pleased smile. “I can’t believe it worked,” she said.

“I can,” I said. “You can be rather distracting.”

“ _Focus_ ,” _Mercy of Kalr_ said in both our ears, but I thought it was just as amused as Seivarden.


End file.
